HIV researcher to speak at Symposium Day

Augustana's Winter Symposium Day will focus on Social Justice. The daylong event on Tuesday, Jan. 20 will take the place of classes, and the entire campus community will have the opportunity to discuss a variety of issues related to Social Justice. Additionally, many guest speakers will lead sessions, including Dr. Elizabeth Lowenthal '95.

Dr. Lowenthal describes her college experience as a time of exploration. While at Augustana, she ran track for four years and cross-country for three. She was a member of the biology and chemistry clubs and participated in interfaith activities with campus ministries. Dr. Lowenthal also studied Hebrew with an elderly Holocaust survivor at a local synagogue, which led her to become involved with the Quad Cities Yom Hashoah Committee.

Dr. Lowenthal had a close connection to her two favorite professors, Professor of Chemistry Dr. Marilyn Hoover, and Professor of English Dr. Paul Olson, whom she calls "Ols." She described Dr. Olson as being the epitome of what is great about a liberal arts education.

"His classes were incredibly thought-provoking, delving into the essence of human nature," she recalled.

Dr. Hoover also was her advisor. "She went out of her way to create a kind of second family for those of us who were lucky enough to be in her advising group," she said.

Before graduating from Augustana, Dr. Lowenthal spent the summer before her senior year in Houston, Texas, interning at Baylor College of Medicine. There she worked in an oncology lab at Texas Children's Hospital — an experience that made her choose Baylor for medical school.

After completing her medical education, Dr. Lowenthal decided to stay at Baylor College for her pediatrics training. She worked in the Houston office of the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative and Texas Children's Center for International Adoptions for a year. In that position, she provided pre-adoption counseling to parents, and clinical care for children with HIV and new adopted children from around the world.

That same year, the Botswana-Baylor Children's Clinical Centre of Excellence (COE) opened to provide care and treatment to HIV-infected children and families. Dr. Lowenthal accepted an offer to work at the newly opened clinic, and what originally was going to be a one-year experience turned into four years. As the associate director and clinic director at the Botswana-Baylor COE, she was responsible for caring for patients, helping to write clinical guidelines for the country and providing health professional education.

After four years in Botswana, Dr. Lowenthal returned to the United States to receive further training. Her time in Botswana influenced her decision to seek training in epidemiology so that she could better the lives of children infected with HIV. She completed a master's degree in clinical epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania while working in the Special Immunology Family Care Center (Pediatric HIV Clinic) at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Today, most of Dr. Lowenthal's time is spent focused on HIV-related research based in Africa. She is a part of the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches undergraduates, medical students and pediatric trainees, while still continuing to see patients one day per week.

Dr. Lowenthal is affiliated with the Center for Pediatric Clinical Effectiveness at CHOP, a group that is dedicated to research aimed at improving the medical care of children. She also is on the faculty of the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UPenn and serves on the treatment scientific committee for the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Network.